Snake Staff: is it feasible?

[Dark Immortal]

So I have recently made a winter witch for a home game and because it is a home game, I can be evil and also do all the cool stuff with undead. This has lead me to an interest in the occult patron. The occult patron will let me touch on some undead things but that's about all the patron has besides one flavorful spell of interest; snake staff.

Assuming this spell is mechanically viable, it will be enough to convince me to dive into the occult patron instead of the Trickery one.

So let's see what we can do to make this spell practical, shall we?

For starters it appears that summon monster 5 doesn't give you as many poweful creatures as snake staves advanced giant constrictor, however, it does give you multiple monsters which are all quite competitive with the single constrictor. This seems like a better deal when flanking and special abilities are considered. The advanced giant cobra is laughable with a +5 attack (it needs 19's to hit easy level appropriate foes....) But the poison can add up quickly if it hits and the target fails saves.

All of that said, snake staff has limitations on where it can be cast as there is a condition of needing debris or branches/staves/logs/small trees. So far, all I've got is unseen servant dragging up to 100 pounds or carrying logs weighing up to 20 pounds total. It lasts hours per day in a first level slot and the materials would there for always be on hand for combat. The 100 pounds probably doesn't count for small trees sadly. So we are likely stuck with advanced venoumous giant cobras.

Any further ways to easily strengthen this spell into being worth casting?

[I'm Hiding In Your Closet]

Add the following possible effects to the spell:

1) on a successful Charisma check, target monarch Lets Your People Go

and

2) if target monarch fails a Will save, the Princess WILL Marry You!

[Imbicatus]

Go for multiple smaller snakes instead of fewer big snakes. At level 10 when you get the spell, you can get two advanced giant venomous snakes or five advanced venomous snakes. A flanking bonus will make the to-hit of each snake the same as a giant one, but you have five attacks instead of 2, each with a chance to deliver poison.

As a plus, its easier to carry sticks than logs.

[Dark Immortal]

Fair enough. What else can we do to make these snakes relevant in combat, though? 9th and 10th level is a long time to wait for a bunch of summons which can only hit on a 19-20. What are we missing here?

[I'm Hiding In Your Closet]

This is a shot in the dark, but would giving it/them the Advanced template help?

[Imbicatus]

The big problem with snake staff is that it's a transmutation spell, not a summoning spell. So any feats that augment summons won't work on it.

If you have access to Shrink item somehow, You can shrink trees as they are objects and carry them around for access to the advanced giant constrictor.

[Dark Immortal]

@Closet The snakes are advanced as far as I can tell (and they still suck). Their biggest problem is to hit. The second best of them has a +5 to hit but you don't get access to the spell until 9th or 10th level. So average and weak enemies have roughly a 24 ac and that means the snakes need a 19 or 20 to hit. Worthless! :(

@Imbacitus great idea! That is an awesome way to make that work. Now if I can somehow get that spell castable. Isn't there a cheap spell storing item that can do this? It might be the ring because my recollection is that the ioun stone was rather costly. Witches don't get shrink item so this sort of matters. In fact, none of the classes that can cast snake staff get shrink item, so this question is relevan to them all.

[Dave Justus]

The obvious answer is a portable hole full of yard waste.

[avr]

Summon Neutral Monster lets you use Summon Monster II to get an Atomie, which can cast Shrink Item. Witches get SMII and can be neutral.

Alternately shrink item lasts days/level and only costs 150 gp for someone to cast it for you in a town.